What was your best/almost worst cruise?

[MalteseMama2]

You can't control circumstances, but you can control your own attitude. Who wants to share an experience that could have been horrible but turned out to be wonderful?

Mine took place 10 years ago this month on the Serenade and really sealed our loyalty to RCI. Hubby & I had planned an Alaskan cruise to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. We thought we had done everything right: fly out a day ahead, travel insurance.when we got to the airport we discovered our flight was cancelled. No biggie, we were rerouted. We barely made our connection at LAX it was no surprise that our luggage didn't make it to Vancouver.

No problem! The airline ASSURED us it would arrive the next morning. First thing I did the next day was call and was told that yes our luggage had arrived in Vancouver, no I didn't need to come pick it up, it would be sent to the port for me. Unfortunately, this was completely false!!

We spent the day enjoying Vancouver when we could have been buying clothes and toiletries that insurance would have covered.

Anyway, we had left port and it was past time for our luggage to have been delivered. We were in a suite so the concierge and guest services both helped us.

. First they discovered our luggage was still in LA! We were very angry and upset so we gave ourselves some time to calm down then decided to just make the best of it.

The staff on board were wonderful! Every morning they picked up our clothes for a speed wash. We were given complimentary toiletries, a free dinner in a specialty restaurant & bottle of wine to celebrate our Anniversary, and the concierge gave me a small bottle of perfume.

We met so many people, they always recognized us because we were wearing the same clothes every day! And I found I liked not having to put on makeup every day. After all I had the perfect excuse!

We are about to celebrate our 20th anniversary with another cruise. We still look back on that Alaskan cruise as one of our favorites even though it could have been the worst!

 

 

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[Desert Cruizers]

I do hope we never encounter the no luggage problem, but can't way we have ever had a cruise that was a disaster. Some minor glitches yes. I was on a cruise with friends and DH stayed home, and I had trouble with my Sea Pass Card 4 times on a 7 day cruise. twice in the same day. As I was disembarking in Astoria for the Tour I am called aside and in looking at the booth where the photos appear there were two showing, mine and some other mans. LOL My information was verified and off I went to take the tour Upon returning to the ship I told them about the double picture. needless to say I went back to GR to get my final card for the rest of the week.The lady at GR was shocked to see me returning for the 4th time. As you said, attitude is important and I looked at the situation as a funny adventure.

[swoopy2110]

I never try to give the staff a hard time. I take life as it comes and deal with it.

 

Your story is really refreshing to read :)

 

Some people are just nasty though, to staff that work many hours a day, and don't appreciate what's done for them

[uncannyvalleys]

I never try to give the staff a hard time. I take life as it comes and deal with it.

 

Your story is really refreshing to read :)

 

Some people are just nasty though, to staff that work many hours a day, and don't appreciate what's done for them

 

Right? I'm shocked at how rude people can be to the staff. Most of the time, issues are totally out of their control. There's an appropriate way to deal with bad situations instead of being belligerent or rude.

[George C]

People that live near port are very lucky, flying is no longer fun even with 1st class, glad you made the best of the experience.

[Rogueperson]

You can't control circumstances, but you can control your own attitude. Who wants to share an experience that could have been horrible but turned out to be wonderful?

Mine took place 10 years ago this month on the Serenade and really sealed our loyalty to RCI. Hubby & I had planned an Alaskan cruise to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. We thought we had done everything right: fly out a day ahead, travel insurance.when we got to the airport we discovered our flight was cancelled. No biggie, we were rerouted. We barely made our connection at LAX it was no surprise that our luggage didn't make it to Vancouver.

No problem! The airline ASSURED us it would arrive the next morning. First thing I did the next day was call and was told that yes our luggage had arrived in Vancouver, no I didn't need to come pick it up, it would be sent to the port for me. Unfortunately, this was completely false!!

We spent the day enjoying Vancouver when we could have been buying clothes and toiletries that insurance would have covered.

Anyway, we had left port and it was past time for our luggage to have been delivered. We were in a suite so the concierge and guest services both helped us.

. First they discovered our luggage was still in LA! We were very angry and upset so we gave ourselves some time to calm down then decided to just make the best of it.

The staff on board were wonderful! Every morning they picked up our clothes for a speed wash. We were given complimentary toiletries, a free dinner in a specialty restaurant & bottle of wine to celebrate our Anniversary, and the concierge gave me a small bottle of perfume.

We met so many people, they always recognized us because we were wearing the same clothes every day! And I found I liked not having to put on makeup every day. After all I had the perfect excuse!

We are about to celebrate our 20th anniversary with another cruise. We still look back on that Alaskan cruise as one of our favorites even though it could have been the worst!

 

 

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This is very similar to my story. It was not a cancelled flight, but a missed connection through chicago. Instead of making my flight to LA the day before (was planning to fly from LAX to Vancouver the next morning, but had to fly across country from DC to California the day before), I missed my connection in Chicago because of weather. I had to be rerouted straight to Vancouver instead of meeting my mother in CA. They had to send me to DALLAS, so I could make it to Vancouver. They assured me my bags would follow me. When i arrived in Vancouver, I had no bags (they somehow caught the flight that I missed), as well as a missing mother (she was rerouted too for some reason and I didn't know this). So I was in Vancouver, my mother was MIA as well as my cruise documents (this was in 2004 so online was not as prevalent and my mother had them), my bags were in Orange County, CA. This was Celebrity, not Royal Caribbean. So end result, they allowed me to board with just my ID (passport of course). They tell me that they've been in contact with the airlines about my lost luggage and that unfortunately, there is no way my bags would meet the ship in time prior to departure so they would be sending my bags to Juneau, my first port. I had a day at sea with no clothes (and a formal night at that). Celebrity comped me a tux rental and gave me a care package of some clothes to last me until the 3rd day at Juneau.

 

My mother was the last party to board the ship. She had purchased the flight through Celebrity Air so they waited for her fortunately. Can't tell you how stressed I was in those 36 hours.

[mixplix]

several years ago, my father in law attempted to take my family and my wife's two brother's families away for Thanksgiving. Pretty sure it was NCL out of NYC. About two days in, the propulsion was acting up. A big storm was heading up the East Coast and because of propulsion couldnt go around it or through it.

 

we stopped in Norfolk, supposedly for a few hours, to repair the problem. We were watching on CNN as they said "they are closing the storm gates in Norfolk Harbor" as we watched them do it. Two days later, we limped back to NYC, never making it farther south than Norfolk.

 

They refunded the cruise price plus gave something off a next - we hadnt paid (my father in law jumped for joy) but for us it was being cooped up in the room with two small kids, no good weather, couldnt use the pools, casino never opened, etc, and the loss of a vacation week (we did a quick make up trip to Cancun in December).

 

I am pretty sure NCL removed the NYC-Norfolk cruise from its itineray therafter.

[MalteseMama2]

I'm really enjoying reading these posts. There's always something that could ruin a vacation, but why let it?

 

 

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[Tatka]

Mine was on Carnival Liberty. It was a six dayer out of Fort Lauderdale. Huge crowds, bottlenecks everywhere, kids in packs in every jacuzzi, some less than pleasant adults, questionable entertainment by the pool.

[DALSAL]

I was on the Princess Grand In Feb, 2006 out of Galveston. Before leaving, their was talk that the ship was listing. One of the CC moderator took the cruise a few before we did, and she said, it was indeed listing. She could tell from the water in the shower, for one thing.

So, 2 hours out of Galveston, I had just finished my foo foo drink, and on my way to the cabin to start getting ready for our late seating dinner. I had just left the elevator, and either that drink had really hit me, or the ship was really making some strange moves!! Then I thought, this ship really is listing. About the time we reached the carpet, things really got bad!

Water was coming into the ship! People were screaming! The cabin stewart was trying to keep the heavy cart full of supplies from rolling into people. It was scary! I didn't really panic until I saw the fear on the faces on the two staff. One said, "oh capitan what is wrong with the ship"!!

The screaming continued! FINALLY, the ship righted itself, and then we started trying to find out just what happened.

It seems the Captain was at dinner with his sister, and the ship was on automatic pilot. A lady passenger had a heart attack, and I never found out her exact condition, but we were going to turn around and meet the Coast Guard to pick the lady up, or either go back to Galveston.

It seemed the Capitan gave the ok to do this, but I don't think they took the ship off automatic pilot before they started making that turn.

All the shops were busted up, glass everywhere. The booze was broken, piano slid across the room, the water had come out of the pool and had come back into the ship. You get the picture!

People got hurt. TVs fell off the wall, someone got burned, someone got his back hurt when the cart rolled into him. Broken arms..etc. BUT, she ship made an announcement that NO ONE was ever in any danger. We thought differently! Some people wanted off the ship. But, we didn't go back to Galveston, so they told them they could get off in Cozumel. Princess was not very nice about things, but Im sure they were afraid of lawsuits.

My brother always made fun of my little flip phone. But, it was the only phone that seemed to be working, and I let my neighbor use so that her dad could calm her mom down. He had surgery on his leg right before leaving, so he had stayed home. He managed to make her feel better, and I was glad to let her use my phone.

Princess didn't want us to take any pics, but I have a few. I believe at one time, they were posted on CC.

Cruise turned out to be fun! I have never cruised Princess since, but I would. Just haven't had the chance. A few months later, the very same thing happened to another Princess ship, I believe from Ft Lauderdale. I believe a little girl got hurt. I heard they were much nicer to those people. I think they learned their lesson of how NOT to treat your passengers!

I have NEVER had a cruise that I didn't love!! When friends saw my pics, they thought I was crazy to sail again. But,they don't know what its like being a cruiseaholic!! Im sure some of you do! Dot

[BillOh]

I've been real lucky in that I have not missed a single port or had anything that made for a horrible cruise. . But keeping in mind the OPs point of a bad situation being turned around. We tried to dock at Costa Maya with Jewel in 2012. It was a 5 day cruise and 2 ports. The ladies picked the excursion, that I had absolutely no interest in, but went with the flow for the first stop. We almost didn't make it the port even through it was a dock. The unprotected side was too rough to get off the ship as the waves would have flooded the gangway. It was early, our protected side had been requested by the larger Disney ship coming several hours later.

 

It was reported the Captain told the Harbor Master that we were taking the protected side and the Disney Captain would have to grow a pair. It was much calmer by the time Disney arrived and they had no problem. It "saved" that stop for us.

[kalliekae]

There are no bad cruises, but some cruises do have issues. Ours occurred on a HAL ship many years ago. We were docked in Arhaus, Denmark and eating dinner in the MDR. We had a lovely window view onto the dock when we saw a dozen people frantically waving at us. We smiled and waved back. However, the crowd grew and more frantic waving ensued. At that point, firemen walked into the MDR and announced that the fire was under control and there was no need for concern. We never smelled any smoke so we figured it was a small kitchen fire. What really occurred was an engine fire and the smoke stacks were bellowing black smoke that alarmed the locals so they had gathered at the pier. We never were able to leave Arhaus for our next port of Copenhagen since the ship was dead in the water.

 

At 4am, we were told to meet outside with our luggage and buses would take us to Copenhagen. It was a chaotic mess to get on a bus since there was not one HAL officer there to organize people. HAL had put the wait staff out there and they were not able to handle some of the upset and rude passengers. The buses took us to the airport and all passengers were told to find their own transportation to wherever they wanted. Luckily, Copenhagen was our last stop on the cruise so we were able to see it on our own since all excursions had been cancelled. Not HAL's finest hour! However, it made for an interesting memory with our kids which we laugh about today.

[obsessedsc]

Last summer we cruised the Disney Dream and we forgot our bag of medicine on our bed at home. Most things we could replace at the grocery store, but my husband takes Adderall for ADHD and there was no way we could replace that one. He has a very hard time adjusting when he's off of it. We had our panic hour or two and then we decided to make the best of it. He was pretty miserable at times but it was still better than being at work! Now we have added that to the list of things to triple check to make sure we don't leave home without!

[molsonschooner]

There are no bad cruises, but some cruises do have issues. Ours occurred on a HAL ship many years ago. We were docked in Arhaus, Denmark and eating dinner in the MDR. We had a lovely window view onto the dock when we saw a dozen people frantically waving at us. We smiled and waved back. However, the crowd grew and more frantic waving ensued. At that point, firemen walked into the MDR and announced that the fire was under control and there was no need for concern. We never smelled any smoke so we figured it was a small kitchen fire. What really occurred was an engine fire and the smoke stacks were bellowing black smoke that alarmed the locals so they had gathered at the pier. We never were able to leave Arhaus for our next port of Copenhagen since the ship was dead in the water.

 

At 4am, we were told to meet outside with our luggage and buses would take us to Copenhagen. It was a chaotic mess to get on a bus since there was not one HAL officer there to organize people. HAL had put the wait staff out there and they were not able to handle some of the upset and rude passengers. The buses took us to the airport and all passengers were told to find their own transportation to wherever they wanted. Luckily, Copenhagen was our last stop on the cruise so we were able to see it on our own since all excursions had been cancelled. Not HAL's finest hour! However, it made for an interesting memory with our kids which we laugh about today.

 

I just don't understand when people say there are no bad cruises. Cruises like the Carnival Triumph a few years ago, the Anthem last winter. Other ships having fires on them, even small fires would be enough to scare a lot of people. I love cruising but there are times when I think I would rather be home.

[MalteseMama2]

I just don't understand when people say there are no bad cruises. Cruises like the Carnival Triumph a few years ago, the Anthem last winter. Other ships having fires on them, even small fires would be enough to scare a lot of people. I love cruising but there are times when I think I would rather be home.

 

 

Obviously, there are extreme situations that no one wants to experience. But I've noticed people on board letting something relatively minor ruin their cruise.

I would tell my Kindergarten students, It's OK to be upset. Your feelings are real. But you must choose the best way to respond to what is upsetting you.

 

 

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[bean24]

We were on the NCL Dawn out of NY in January, all I wanted was a BBQ hamburger. The sail away BBQ was canceled after staying out in the freezing cold for two hours after the scheduled departure. They have a grill on the 13 deck. Went there and was told they were closed. Got to the private island and it was cancelled since it was too rough to tender. Lost two pairs of sunglasses in the first two days.

Finally realized I was lucky enough to be on a cruise while others were freezing in NY. Decided I was going to have a good time the rest of the trip. Next day was Belize great no problem. Honduras was next, amazing snorkeling. Getting ready to leave the beach I go to the bathroom and promptly fall down a flight of stairs. Off to the hospital, wound up severely injuring my leg. Ship waits for us I'm

Allowed back on, but can not walk. The ship loans me a wheelchair and crutches. My husband gets to go back to work and tell everyone he pushed me around all week. Looking back it's one of my favorite vacations ever, because it reminded me how lucky I really was.

 

 

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Edited June 6, 2017 by bean24

[kalliekae]

Thank you, MalteseMama2. That was exactly my point. Despite the problem at the end of our cruise, it didn't ruin it for us. To molsonschooner, I acknowledge that there have been cruises like the Triumph, the Dream, or even the Costa ship that ran aground. However, in no way was I comparing our cruise to one of those. Our cruise did not end the way we had planned, but we didn't let it ruin our cruise. We made the best of a negative situation and enjoyed Copenhagen.

[Newby58]

We had planned our holiday one year out. We were going to combine our love of cruising with finally snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef. We paid for our ship excursion to the outer reef 9 months out. Low and behold, on the day of the excursion out of Airlie Beach, despite beautiful sunny warm/hot weather, the excursion was cancelled by the operator due to rough seas in the outer reef. Not even the locals could get out there. All other tours to the reef further up were booked out. Considering we took this cruise primarily to visit the reef we were very disappointed. We decided to come back next year and to make the best of it. We were lucky enough to book a land based crocodile excursion that we normally wouldn't be interested in. After an OK day we got back to the ship with a message saying RCI were putting on an extra excursion to the outer reef out of Port Douglas in 2 days and we had first preference. It turned out to be the most wonderful, magical and exhilarating experience that exceeded our expectations. Thanks to RCI.

 

 

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[firegal2539]

About 5 years ago I cruised Canada/New England, 14 days. I flew in to Boston and arrived on the ship about 30 minutes before embarking. That started the cruise off on the wrong foot.

 

Immediately after boarding there was an announcement for the safety drill. I had my small suitcase with me and I wasn't allowed to go put it in my room, I had to attend the drill.

 

After the drill I went to my cabin. My luggage was there so I unpacked, realized it was time to go to the dining room for dinner. Stepped into the bathroom to find toenails, fingernails and filth all over the floor. I called housekeeping and they said they would be right up to clean it and for me to enjoy my dinner. After dinner went to the show and the casino and returned to my room around 11. It hadn't been cleaned. I called again and a young lady arrived with a bottle of spray cleaner and nothing else. She said she didn't have the right equipment and would return. 2 am and still not cleaned. Used the ladies room on our deck and went to bed.

 

The next morning I woke up with little bite marks on my feet, legs and arms. Went to the doctor and he said they were bed bug bites. He ordered a new mattress, linens, spraying and disinfecting of the room. 4 hours later I was able to get in but I sat in a chair in the hallway watching them do exactly what they were suppose to do.

 

Bathroom was finally cleaned. I think I had the cleanest cabin on board.

 

I asked for another cabin but the cruise was sold out.

 

I finally got to enjoy my cruise after the second day.

 

 

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[shippmates]

We were on the Grandeur for an 8 night cruise in 2013 when the ship caught on fire. Needless to say our cruise was cut short and I remembering standing at our muster stations for many hours waiting for this fire to be put out. Once the fire was out we continued to Freeport so the ship could be put in drydock. The Carnival ship that was following our same route came and stayed in case we had to abandon ship, the lifeboats were in the ready to be lowered. We never had to abandon ship and the crew on the ship were amazing. Even during this scary ordeal, Royal kept us updated on everything that was happening. We never lost power. We booked our next cruise on Grandeur while we were sailing to Freeport .

[swoopy2110]

About 5 years ago I cruised Canada/New England, 14 days. I flew in to Boston and arrived on the ship about 30 minutes before embarking. That started the cruise off on the wrong foot.

 

Immediately after boarding there was an announcement for the safety drill. I had my small suitcase with me and I wasn't allowed to go put it in my room, I had to attend the drill.

 

After the drill I went to my cabin. My luggage was there so I unpacked, realized it was time to go to the dining room for dinner. Stepped into the bathroom to find toenails, fingernails and filth all over the floor. I called housekeeping and they said they would be right up to clean it and for me to enjoy my dinner. After dinner went to the show and the casino and returned to my room around 11. It hadn't been cleaned. I called again and a young lady arrived with a bottle of spray cleaner and nothing else. She said she didn't have the right equipment and would return. 2 am and still not cleaned. Used the ladies room on our deck and went to bed.

 

The next morning I woke up with little bite marks on my feet, legs and arms. Went to the doctor and he said they were bed bug bites. He ordered a new mattress, linens, spraying and disinfecting of the room. 4 hours later I was able to get in but I sat in a chair in the hallway watching them do exactly what they were suppose to do.

 

Bathroom was finally cleaned. I think I had the cleanest cabin on board.

 

I asked for another cabin but the cruise was sold out.

 

I finally got to enjoy my cruise after the second day.

 

 

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:o

Did they give you any sort of compensation for this ?

[mommykim]

The worst cruise I ever had was on NCL in about 2001. We booked a Pacific Northwest cruise out of San Diego for us and our then 5 year old son. We were assured that there would be a complete children's program for the kids. Well, the first surprise was that when you showed up at the pier in San Diego they put everyone on a bus and drove us all to Ensenada. It was a madhouse with people sitting on the buses that were turned off so no air conditioning for 3 and 4 hours and then having to wait another couple of hours in line to get on the ship. We were supposed to leave at 4pm and did not leave until after 1am.

We went to sign our son up for the kids program and found out that their idea of a full kids program was one that was open from 10-12 in the morning and 7-10 in the evening and that was it. The pool was also off limits for the kids other than from 10-11am. Older ship so no kids pool. My fault for not researching that but my son preferred to be in the kids program so I never thought about it. Our son who was used to RCCL, Carnival and Celebrity by that point thought we were keeping him out of the program for some reason and was not a happy camper. We ended up spending our time trying to keep him occupied with the games in the game room but we had to take him elsewhere to play them as you guessed it. He was not allowed in there.

It was the first and only cruise had I been allowed to take my family off the ship in the first port (San Francisco) I would have and just stayed there for a few days. I asked if I could and was told no because of PVSA though that should not have mattered because we left from Ensenada but my husband did not want to argue with them about it.

[printingchick]

Cruise for my daughter's high school graduation. I was traveling with my 18-year-old daughter, her best friend and her 12-year-old brother. First cruise for all the kids, third or fourth cruise for me. We were on Carnival. We traveled over February school break (so a bit in advance of graduation) because we live in the northeast and the winter time is the best time to get away. Due to our short travel window (and tight budget), we flew on the day of the cruise. Even worse, we had a connecting flight! (New-cruiser mistakes!) We got lucky with perfect weather in New England, but Southwest had over-sold the flight. We waited and waited for someone to volunteer to give up their seat and no one would. It got later and later and we worried we'd miss our connecting flight. We made it to Nashville just in time to board our next plane. But then, snow flurries began to fall. Nashville had only one de-icing machine, so a line formed. The pilot kept announcing every thirty minutes that we'd be taking off in 30 minutes. I got on my cell phone and called Carnival, begging them to HOLD the ship. They asked how many individuals on our flight were bound for that vessel. I had the flight attendant take a poll! (Seriously!) My son was visibly upset. I started wondering what I would do with three kids in Tampa, Florida for 5 days, assuming we'd be missing the cruise. I had no insurance (another rookie mistake I've not repeated), so having to treat these kids to a 5 day Tampa vacation was going to financially cripple me.

 

We landed in Tampa and were thrilled when our bags were among the first off the plane. (Last loaded, first unloaded I suppose.) We grabbed a taxi and tipped the driver well to put pedal to metal. Carnival actually did delay departure, as we were not the only people delayed by east coast weather. We made it - just barely. We missed the muster drill, which was taking place as we checked in.

 

The cruise was great, but it started with tremendous stress. I learned some valuable lessons building in time for mishaps and buying travel insurance!

[dreadpirate3]

I haven't had a worst cruise yet.

 

My best cruise was on the Enchantment in 2013. We traveled with our son and stayed in a balcony stateroom and it was one of my most memorable trips. Now that he is an adult and busy, I will always be grateful that we took that trip.

[vacationlover_mn]

My DH and I got Norovirus the 3rd day of our 7 nighter on Norwegian Dream.... we knew something was very wrong when DH passed out while getting off the ship in Belize. Not our favorite cruise, and now we are VERY picky about hand washing!!!!

 

The only "best" part of the cruise is that we got free medical care, and they automatically refunded our excursions :)

 

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